Print Page - A bad Easter for the IOM Steam Packet passengers

I'm afraid that it is about normal for the Steam Packet Co for a holiday period. Manannan was out of service last year around Easter time due to something wrapped around the propeller / propulsion unit if I remember correctly. The railways are not the only ones......

Mrs Sapperton Tunnel and I were actually on the Manannan when it collided with the pier. About 2 hours into the 2 3/4 hour sailing from Liverpool there was a sudden intense vibration and after slowing, the Captain announced that he had sent the Chief Engineer to investigate issues with the stabilisers. The craft then speeded up a little bit and Captain said that we would proceed to Douglas at reduced speed and carry out steering checks before entering harbour.

All seemed to go well getting into Douglas when suddenly there was a tannoy announcement for all passengers to sit down and then a more urgent 'Brace, Brace, Brace', followed about 5 seconds later by a grinding, wrenching, crunching sound and a graceful but sudden stop. Various hatches, air-conditioning unit covers etc came adrift, but we have had worse on rough crossings in bad weather on the Ben my Chree (the traditional ferry type vessel).

In my opinion the injuries were very slight and were more of a result of stumbling as the vessel lurched and I think shock was the biggest injury and sending the 5 to hospital was as much for potential legal reasons as for physical or emotional distress.

After about 20 mins the Manannan docked as normal, but the longest wait was for a company of about 50 Sea Scouts to disembark through the Car Deck instead of using the Passenger gangway. We then had to manoeuvre our car around an unattended vehicle to disembark ourselves as presumably the driver / occupants were being examined by the medics.

We were about an hour late reaching our destination.

Coming back was a pain as instead of Liverpool we had to use the Ben my Chree to Heysham a further 60 odd miles up the M6 and a whole new bunch of roadworks to contend with.

Sapperton Tunnel

Great Western Coffee Shop

All across the Great Western territory => Buses and other ways to travel => Topic started by: old original on March 31, 2016, 16:33:31